Today is all about an adorable Halloween wood sign that you can paint in minutes. Just grab some stencils made from your Cricut and use our special paint technique. It makes this sign oh so easy to make! We are using Testors craft paint and this post is sponsored by Testors, however, all projects and opinions are my own. This project is perfect for planning your own Testors Crafternoon so read on to find out more.
Supplies needed to make a painted wood sign:
Some links below are affiliate links which means that you do not pay anymore but a portion of any purchase will go to this site.
- Wood sign (I picked mine up here)
- Testors craft paint in a variety of colors
- Cricut machine
- Vinyl (in any color)
- Cricut cut file (click here to access)
- Paintbrushes
- Transfer tape
- Weeding tools (optional)
DIY Sign for Halloween Video
Want to see how to make this project instead of reading? Just watch the video below.
Can’t watch the video or missed some of the steps? We have everything you need to know laid out below as well!
How to Make a Halloween Wood Sign:
Start by painting your sign with one coat of Testors craft paint. One coat gives great coverage so there is no need for a second coat.
You will want to decide which slats are what color before starting. I wrote down on a piece of paper which slat would have which saying and what colors I wanted to use. Remember that these will be the colors of your letters as we are doing a reverse stencil technique.
Continue until you have painted the front and sides of all slats. If you are putting this sign outdoors, be sure to flip it over and paint the back once the front is dry.
I also went back in with a darker brown and painted where the back slats show through to the front for more of a finished appearance.
Set your sign aside to dry and, in the meantime, you can cut the vinyl for your stencils. The vinyl color does not matter as we are only using as a stencil and it will not be on your finished sign.
Weed away all excess vinyl on each piece.
That includes the outer edge as well as the centers of any letters.
Once your pieces have been weeded, you will want to use transfer tape to put them on your dry sign.
You can use the same piece of transfer tape for all of your pieces. Just peel back the tape from the backing paper.
Then apply to the front of your vinyl. Be sure to press down well.
Remove the backing paper from the vinyl and your pieces should stick to the transfer tape.
Apply the vinyl to whatever slat you wish.
Once again, press it down well.
Then peel back your transfer tape and your vinyl will stay in place on your Halloween wood sign.
Press it down well once more just to make sure it is on there really well.
Then start painting over the top with white paint. You want a really dry brush with not much paint on it.
Your goal here is NOT complete coverage. You want to just give a REALLY light coat over the top of the vinyl letters.
Go over the entire sign with the white. You can see that I did not have complete coverage and that is EXACTLY what you do want to see.
Then you can immediately start pulling off the vinyl letters. I find that a weeding tool helps with this.
Continue until all of your letters are off. Then repeat this same process for all of the slats on your painted wood sign.
After everything is painted and has dried, you will want to go back in and add your arrows. Just use black paint for this and a really dry brush to make rustic looking arrows.
Allow those to dry and your Halloween wood sign is complete!
I added mine to my fall mantel along with my rust painted ampersand.
A DIY sign for Halloween is just a few steps away. This easy to make sign will look great in or outside of your home this season.
This sign is also perfect for planning a Testors Crafternoon. Just pick up the supplies to make a bunch of signs and invite over your friends. You can have an afternoon of crafting and fun! Then everyone gets to walk away with their own version of this Halloween wood sign at the end of the day.
Now that is what I call fun! I hope you enjoy this project and invite a few friends over to share the crafting with you. After all, creating is so much more fun with friends!
Want more Halloween crafts for your Testors Crafternoon? Try these ideas!
- Halloween Signs and Testors Crafternoons
- Pot Decoration Ideas for Testors Crafternoons
- Halloween Tree for Testors Crafternoons
- Halloween Lanterns: Testors Crafternoons
Want to print the instructions for this Halloween wood sign? You can do that below as well!
Equipment
- Cricut machine
Ingredients
- Wood sign
- Testors craft paint in a variety of colors
- Vinyl in any color
- Cricut cut file
- Paintbrushes
- Transfer tape
- Weeding tools optional
Instructions
- Start by painting your sign with one coat of Testors craft paint. One coat gives great coverage so there is no need for a second coat.
- You will want to decide which slats are what color before starting. I wrote down on a piece of paper which slat would have which saying and what colors I wanted to use. Remember that these will be the colors of your letters as we are doing a reverse stencil technique.
- Continue until you have painted the front and sides of all slats. If you are putting this sign outdoors, be sure to flip it over and paint the back once the front is dry.
- I also went back in with a darker brown and painted where the back slats show through to the front for more of a finished appearance.
- Set your sign aside to dry and, in the meantime, you can cut the vinyl for your stencils. The vinyl color does not matter as we are only using as a stencil and it will not be on your finished sign.
- Weed away all excess vinyl on each piece.
- That includes the outer edge as well as the centers of any letters.
- Once your pieces have been weeded, you will want to use transfer tape to put them on your dry sign.
- You can use the same piece of transfer tape for all of your pieces. Just peel back the tape from the backing paper.
- Then apply to the front of your vinyl. Be sure to press down well.
- Remove the backing paper from the vinyl and your pieces should stick to the transfer tape.
- Apply the vinyl to whatever slat you wish.
- Once again, press it down well.
- Then peel back your transfer tape and your vinyl will stay in place on your Halloween wood sign.
- Press it down well once more just to make sure it is on there really well.
- Then start painting over the top with white paint. You want a really dry brush with not much paint on it.
- Your goal here is NOT complete coverage. You want to just give a REALLY light coat over the top of the vinyl letters.
- Go over the entire sign with the white. You can see that I did not have complete coverage and that is EXACTLY what you do want to see.
- Then you can immediately start pulling off the vinyl letters. I find that a weeding tool helps with this.
- Continue until all of your letters are off. Then repeat this same process for all of the slats on your painted wood sign.
- After everything is painted and has dried, you will want to go back in and add your arrows. Just use black paint for this and a really dry brush to make rustic looking arrows.
- Allow those to dry and your Halloween wood sign is complete!
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Hello! Where did you get the wood from? Your link is broken?
Sorry. The place where it is originally from shut down. I see these on Amazon that you could stack: https://amzn.to/2UOAmBL
Hi cute craft. I can’t seem to get yo the Cricut link. Can you tell me the fonts you used please.
Joann
Not sure! Maybe try the link on desktop if you are trying on mobile.
May I ask what brushes you are using?
I really have no idea! I have a bunch I have collected over the years. I am not picky when it comes to paintbrushes.
When I click on your cut file it says the project is not available because it was saved as private. Could you tell me what fonts you used? Thanks!
Sorry! There is a glitch in Design Space. When you click tell it to open in the online version of design space instead of desktop and see if it will open.
Did you get this to work? I can’t get the files either!
Can you try again? I got some information from Cricut and am trying to fix the issue! Thanks!